Leamington Royal Spa Centre Rescheduled 29 May 09

[larryhauck]

Hey Kieth,
The first time I saw Hayley do Wuthering Heights I was blown away. Everyone seems to have the same reaction. It would make a great single.

Larry

[simon]

Hope to hear from you all how it was! No doubt Hayley was again enchanting?

[grant]

Hello Everyone.

The Leamings Tale
Unlike Glasgow last week, today’s “Hayleyday” is a late start, the venue being only 75 minutes drive away. Almost worse than an early get up though, as I have time to kill in the morning and no real inclination to do anything but be on my way!

Quite an easy drive – mostly motorway and I found my chosen parking place more easily than anticipated. I arrived outside the venue just as the Town Hall clock struck 2pm. It is a glorious day warm and sunny with just a gentle breeze.

There are already a couple of fans waiting by the stage door and very soon I am joined by Paddy, Karsten and Thomas and, not many minutes later, Gordon and Roger arrived from the station. Very soon we are into double figures and keen for Hayley to arrive.

First to appear is Hannah who arrived in a taxi and trotted over to say hello and impart some snippets of information (sorry guys! You’ll have to wait for Roger to fill in the blanks). The minibus appeared whilst Hannah was chatting and she shot off to get organised whilst we laid siege to the minibus.

Hannah had already mentioned that Hayley is in top form, she certainly looked happy and very summery and pleased to see everyone. She posed for pictures and chatted for a few minutes before heading inside. She did, however, announce that she would like to do a signing if the venue are OK with it (They better be!)

Roger and Gordon have still not checked into their hotel so we all trooped round to their Travelodge, content to sit in the relative cool of reception whilst they checked in and changed. Next job, find a Weatherspoon’s. OK, well there’s one just across the road – very handy! It’s still only 4pm so we sat with drinks for a while before ordering food.

It’s still a bit early to head for the venue so we strolled across to one of Leamington’s beautiful parks and found ourselves standing on a bridge over the river, at which point, Roger remarked that as there were no ladies present, it must be a ‘Mansbridge’! (think about it!)

We arrived back at the venue about 6.40pm and quickly learnt that there would be a signing – somehow I think the venue staff would have found it very difficult to say no, but it’s a fairly small venue so …. (famous last words!).

It is actually quite a small venue, 60’s in style but inviting with nice warm colours. Auditorium seating is made up of metal frame chairs linked together, no doubt so that it can be used for a variety of functions. Keith and his family have now arrived, as has Drew and Ginni, so we are complete.

As the lights dimmed, I turned to Gordon sitting next to me. “I wonder if Hayley will open Prayer singing from the wings? ………….."

[Jillian]

Thanks for your report, Grant! Leaving us in suspense as always! I must say that your reports are very well written -- considering it must be quite late in the UK now. I can almost feel the anticipation building as Hayley is about to come on stage!

But I'm sure I'll snap out of it in a few minutes as all I have to anticipate this Saturday morning is two loads of washing, vacuuming and assignments.... The excitement of waiting for more goss from last night will keep me going though! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

[keithp]

May 29, 2009 23:58:21 GMT @larryhauck said:

Hey Kieth,
The first time I saw Hayley do Wuthering Heights I was blown away. Everyone seems to have the same reaction. It would make a great single.

Larry

Have seen her perform the song live before but it still amazes me. I think she is the only person I have heard perform the song in a way that really does bear comparison with the original by Kate Bush

[Jillian]

Maybe what Hayley needs to do is to tell Decca/UCJ, "find me someone to write me a song that shows off my voice as well as Wuthering Heights". There's something about the power of that song -- Hayley can really belt it out -- and Wuthering Heights shows that.

[keithp]

May 30, 2009 0:35:09 GMT Jillian said:

Maybe what Hayley needs to do is to tell Decca/UCJ, "find me someone to write me a song that shows off my voice as well as Wuthering Heights". There's something about the power of that song -- Hayley can really belt it out -- and Wuthering Heights shows that.

I think you are right. The song really shows off the vocal range which has developed so well in Hayley as she has grown up

[grant]

The Important Bit
It is a spine tingling magical experience, sitting in a darkened auditorium to suddenly hear Hayley sing the first verse of ‘Prayer’ a capella from the wings and I’ve heard it before and was expecting it. That set the scene for the concert - Hayley came onto stage in her red ‘Poppy’ dress as the intro played out and the audience erupted into applause. Quietening only when they realised Hayley was about to sing.

During her first set, Hayley spoke only occasionally to the audience; to explain briefly the background to Simon & Garfunkles “Scarborough Fair” and Fleetwood Mack’s Songbird. After which she set about introducing her musicians; I clapped – isn’t it embarrassing when nobody else follows? Well, the rest of the audience did after a delay which seemed like forever!

When the initial applause died down, Hayley began to introduce her musicians and, glancing in my direction briefly but pointedly, requested individual applause. Hayley actually got herself into a bit of a tangle at this point because she was trying to remember where everyone came from. She’d always introduced pianist Tim as being from New Zealand; she’d got to grips with Andy coming from Carlisle – now she tried to for the hat-trick with Raven realising quite quickly that this was a road she should have avoided – at least she pegged Kirsty and Rachel as Mancunians and admitted defeat with a giggle. The audience loved it.

During her second set, Hayley only talked about Amazing Grace and when she had sung with the pipers and about her musical family as she introduced Danny Boy. No reference to locked doors before Shenandoah or explanation about Mumming, but the music was, in a word, out of this world. On form? Oh yes! Without a shadow of a doubt – brilliant.

Raven opened the second half with Jealousy, followed by Czardas/Godfather and their performance of this just gets better with some acted out sequences between Kirsty and Stephany adding to the music. Hayley returned to stage in her lime green dress for her first song of the second half of the concert; a song which has become my absolute favourite Hayley song (and I was happy to tell her so afterwards) Yes, “I Know You By Heart”.

When Hayley first began to sing this, she used to say “I hope I can do it justice” I don’t believe she ever needed to and we told her so and maybe that’s why she doesn’t say it now, but it is such a beautiful song and so sad – I’ve never been in the situation depicted in the lyrics of the song, but when Hayley sings them, it feels as though I have and I just let myself go into that place.

I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but it I think it may have been during Pokarekare Ana, when some unknown force sent Andy’s music flying. When Hayley finished the song, one of the stage crew came out and fixed the stand, much to Hayley's amusement. She made some comment about not knowing what was happening behind her, to which I commented “Good job”. Hayley had to ask me to repeat what I’d said which prompted Andy to say “Not for me it wasn’t!” That got a round of applause from the audience and an apology from me!

The rest of the evening went pretty much according to plan, not that anything was wrong with any of it. Raven Played “Mrs Jamison’s Favourite” whilst Hayley went to change into her blue and gold gown for her final set and the ‘front row’ proved that there were, as always, some Joni Mitchell fans in the audience. What can I say about “Wuthering Heights” – Hayley's version is off the wall in my book and I think the audience thought so to. Shouts of “More!” “More!” brought Hayley back, of course, for an Encore of the beautiful Maori lullaby “Hine e Hine” and another Hayley extravaganza was over.

Now, who’s going to get to the signing table first?

[larryhauck]

Hi Jillian,
I agree with you're assessment regarding Wuthering Heights.
Would Wuthering Heights not work in the U K? I think it would be dynamite in the U S.

Larry

[Jillian]

Hi Larry,

I was wondering the same thing yesterday in this thread on Wuthering Heights.

hwi.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=WuthHeights&action=display&thread=4427&page=2

I'd be interested to hear what you think.

[larryhauck]

Hi Grant,
75 minutes away to a Hayley Concert? If it were anyone but you I'd be envious. But I know you travel extensively to see Hayley. If I didn't have to travel 4000 miles to see Hayley I'd never miss an appearance. How about joining me on the New Zealand tour in Aug or Sept. We could have a ball.

Larry

[grant]

"Waiting at Table"
I headed out of the stalls as quickly as I could; fighting my way past those from the balcony coming down and soon found myself in a bar area with only a couple of staff present. “Where will Hayley be signing” I asked “Right here” came the answer “The queue is up there” Ah Ha! I suddenly realised that the chairs had been laid out to form a corridor and chairs had been set out behind two tables close to where I was standing, where the girls would sit to sign.

One has to think quickly on these occasions as I allocated myself the title of “official photographer” and said “Shall I stand over there?” Steve joined me and Karsten followed. “Is he with you?” I nodded. Gradually the queue grew and by the time Hayley and Raven appeared, the end was no longer in view.

It was perhaps one of the most organised signing sessions I have ever witnessed, each person or group waiting there turn and nothing like the mad scramble in Glasgow the week before. I commented to Dave that it would take ages like this but everyone seemed quite happy and I wasn’t going to complain.

Hayley has got used to the photographers around whilst she is signing and usually just ignores us – which is fine – but occasionally, she will just look up at one of us and produce one of those melting smiles. She did that to me tonight, adding a quiet “Hi!”.

Everyone got their turn and hopefully went away with just a little bit extra from the night having chatted to Hayley. I waited for my turn to get Dean’s DVD signed and took the opportunity of telling her that I would be bringing my Goddaughter Katherine to the Beaumanor Hall concert and Hayley was interested to know a little bit about her. I’d also mentioned it to Dave earlier and he seemed to think that arranging a meeting with Hayley shouldn’t be a problem.

As the clock moved relentlessly towards 11pm, our time with Hayley was, once again, drawing to a close. A group photo with Hayley and Raven was arranged and several of us had photo’s taken with Hayley. At the end, we all went down stairs together, Hayley and Dave through the auditorium to backstage after plenty of goodbye’s, waves and smiles.

The rest of us out onto the street and into the cool night air to say our own goodbyes and to make our way home after another very special evening with our one and only special girl.

Night night

[larryhauck]

Hi again Jillian,
Read my post to Dave. I gave him my opinion in depth. Short answer is that I agree with you 1000%. To add to my diatribe I think that either Hayley is being held back or that she is comfortable where she is now. However I refer back to her book where she says," the U S is the Holy Grail for recording artists".

Larry

[postscript]

Well done, Grant. Another superb report beautifully presented. Thank you.

Peter S.

[grant]

Hello everyone

Despite the fact that the air conditioning on the minibus, apparently, wasn't working, Hayley seemed in high spirits as she greeted fans at Leamington yesterday afternoon.

Best wishes
Grant